Democratic Party of Arkansas

The Democratic Party of Arkansas is the affiliate of the US Democratic Party in the US state of Arkansas. The Democratic Party was founded as a conservative party, supporting Andrew Jackson upon its 1836 formation and coming to support slavery (until the 1860s), states' rights, and the Jim Crow laws during the 1800s and 1900s. During the 20th century, the Democratic Party began to shift to the left, and it would lose the governorship for the first time in 1966, when Republican Party of Arkansas leader Winthrop Rockefeller defeated the former segregationist Orval Faubus. The party would remain a force to reckon with, resisting the Republican Party under Bill Clinton, but the Republicans made inroads in 2010 and captured all statewide offices in 2014, including both US Senate seats and all US House of Representatives seats. In 2017, the party held 11/35 State Senate seats and 36/100 State House of Representatives seats.